Hunter
by Mrs. Hotchner-Wolfe
Summary: Hotch checks up on Garcia. H/G friendship


**I do not own Criminal Minds or it's characters or Solsbury Hill.**

_Climbing up on __Solsbury hill  
I could see the city light  
Wind was blowing, time stood still  
Eagle flew out of the night_

He was something to observe  
Came in close, I heard a voice  
Standing stretching every nerve  
I had to listen had no choice

I did not believe the information  
Just had to trust imagination  
My heart was going boom boom, boom  
Son, he said, grab your things, I've come to take you home.  


From around the corner, Hotch was stopped by the sound of his most favourite songs being sung off key to the loud music coming from Garcia's apartment. He had decided to give her a visit and see how she was doing. He even brought her a bouquet of flowers.

Garcia's singing suddenly stopped though he could still hear the music. It has been raised even more. He finally rounded the corner and reached the door. It was slightly ajar. Suddenly images of his friend lying in her own pool of blood flashed through his mind. He peeked in but couldn't see his Technical Analyst anywhere.

"Penelope!" he called. He received no answer.

Just as he was about to call again, he heard a loud scream. He shouldered the door open. As he did so he dropped the flowers and took out his gun, ready to take a shot at anybody who dared hurt Garcia again. "Freeze!"

After no response, Hotch took in the apartment which mirrored Penelope Garcia's personality, with comic books and video games piled neatly around the room. Moving his eyes to the kitchen, he found Garcia alone, standing against her counter, hands in the air, looking at Hotch, shocked.

"Sir?" she said, barely audible.

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT!?" he yelled over the music.

Garcia slowly reached for the remote and lowered the music. "I'm sorry?" she said, putting her hands back in the air.

"You can put your hands back down," he said, holstering his gun again. She did. "I asked you if you were alright?" he repeated. "I heard you scream and after what happened, I was worried and thought you might be in trouble."

"You were worried?" she asked, growing more and more surprised.

Hotch went back to the door and picked up the flowers had dropped on his haste to protect his friend. " I even brought you these… I'm not sure what they are, but…" he tried to explain. He walked over to the adjoining room and handed them to her.

"Thank you, they're beautiful," she said, smelling them. She walked to the sink and started filling the vase with water.

"I hope you're feeling better?" he asked.

"I am thank you, Aaron."

There was a moment of silence before Hotch remembered the incident.

"So what happened?" he asked. She looked at him confused. "You screamed?" he reminded her.

"Oh, yeah, that…" she began, laughing nervously.

Suddenly Hotch remembered that, when they arrived at the BAU after learning that Jason Clark Battle was dead, she had grown very friendly very quickly with the temp, Kevin Lynch. He raised an eyebrow. "I'm not interrupting something, am I?" he asked.

Garcia's eyebrows shot up in horror that he would ask that type of question so openly. "No… God, no. It's just… God, it's so embarrassing. There's a mouse. And I'm terrified of the things, so I freaked out."

"Where'd it go?"

"Behind the fridge," she replied. He took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. "Ah, sir, Aaron, Hotch… what are you doin'?

He looked at her. "I'm going to catch your mouse."

"Ah, sir, you really don't have to-"

"I can't have someone and don't want anyone else on my team living in more fear then they have to, now can I?" She didn't respond, but stepped out of his way. "Thank you… Do you have an empty jar or something I can use?"

"Uh, yeah…" She handed him one.

He slowly pulled out the fridge and hopped up onto the counter. He unscrewed the jar and reached down.

"I think I found your mouse," he said, tightening the lid. "Now this is embarrassing." He smiled and held up the jar. "Is this your mouse?" Garcia looked shocked and embarrassed. "Your mouse, Ms. Garcia, is nothing but a ball of fluff. The two agents laughed.

As Hotch searched the rest of the apartment for any real mice, Garcia sat, curled up on her couch, sipping some coffee. When he came back out he sat himself down next to her. "Your home is pest free!" he announced.

"Minus, freckles," she added, pointing to her hamster.

"So you're ok with Hamsters, but not mice?" he asked.

They smiled.

"Thank you," she said. "You didn't have to do that."

"Well that's what friends are for," he said casually.

He picked up a comic book and began flicking through it. Garcia looked to see what it was and considered whether it was by accident or on purpose that he had picked up her favourite hero, a Bird of Prey, Huntress.

**This was intended to be a pure friendship fic but it might be seen differently…. **

**PS: Let me know what you think by pressing the lilac button at the bottom of your screen.**


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